Administración del Estado

Sunil is able to alleviate struggles of the poor he advocates for. Still, he himself is a poor

dalit man with a family to support. The struggles he faces contribute to how he fulfills his duties

as an activist. Financial, caste, and political factors all influence his life, just as they do any other member of the rural communities he works.

5.6.1 Financial Struggles

Fulfilling this role of activist is not a financially stable occupation. Unlike many activists, Sunil is paid a salary of 5000 Rs (≈ $73) a month, provided through an AID grant for his activist work. This salary was also due to end by 2016. Despite the difficulties that can be assumed with such a small and unstable salary, Sunil tries to mask such financial struggles. I follow him one day as he is trying to transfer his son to the government school instead of the private school he was in previously. Although he knows that I understand this is because the government school is far less costly, he justifies his action saying that his son never liked the private school anyways. It is also not uncommon for Sunil to disappear for days to take his mother to Visag seeking

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medical treatment. He also is responsible for caring for his daughter and wife. Yet with all the financial burdens he faces, he rarely mentioned not being able to pay for something. In fact, his hand was the first to come out with the money for every auto fee or bus ticket we needed. It wasn’t until I succeeded in beating him to the payment a couple times that he allowed me to pay for the tickets for the remainder of my trip.

Sunil continually craved affirmation that he was doing well, constantly asking or expecting me to compliment him on his deeds. Any questions or comments I had, regardless of how much I coated the comment in compliments, was met with a concerned response of, “so I’m not doing good…?” In one of the many discussions we had following his regular question of whether or not he is doing well, the topic of financials arose. In a heated conversation regarding the need for youth leaders to continue the work Sunil does he exclaimed, “I can’t keep doing this forever!” Finally, I was able to catch a glimpse of Sunil’s financial concerns and struggles. He compared the struggle he endured to that of NGOs.

“[NGOs] make money but do so little. I made 200 job cards for Chammochintha and the villagers wanted to give me 10,000 or 20,000 Rs. I can’t remember exactly how much, but you know what I said? I said no! I told them to just feed me when I come and treat me like a friend. If I took money, then what would be the difference between a social worker like me and a

politician? If I did that I would have less struggles. If I did that I’d have a bike instead of this cycle!” His refusal to acknowledge his financial struggles seems to be a mechanism of coping with the poverty he and his family live in. It would be easy to begin accepting money offered by workers he helps, but Sunil must remain strong and refuse any such payment. Portraying he is not in need of money helps him resist such offers and stops some people from offering.

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5.6.2 Sunil as a Dalit Man

In many ways, Sunil is not bound by the same caste constraints as other dalit members of the community. However, his caste is still a social limitation. Specifically, it effects his

relationship with workers of higher castes. The best example, is the relationship between Gopi and Sunil, a friendship and partnership in which the effects of caste differences are clear.

Gopi’s feelings regarding caste were seen in the previous chapter. The relationship between Sunil and Gopi is also affect by caste differences. While Sunil is a dalit man, Gopi is a member of the BC caste grouping. In conversation, it is common for Gopi to refer to Sunil’s dalit community as “your people”, and “my people”. On one occasion I was sitting on Gopi’s porch talking to him and Sunil. The conversation turned to caste and Gopi says to Sunil, “normally I say no to your people and don’t relate with them, but you’re a good one. I mean have you seen the style of your guys, with their long hair and piercings?” he says laughing at how ridiculous he thinks the style of the dalit youth men is. I look to Sunil expecting him to be upset at this

comment. Surprisingly his expression has remained the same as it was before the comment was made. The conversation continued to discuss the education of their children and the difficulties Sunil is having in making his boy more interested in school. I ask Sunil later why he didn’t react to Gopi’s comment about dalits. “That’s not even the most offensive thing I’ve heard from Gopi. He’s my friend, and always talks about dalits like that.” Although Sunil’s power as an activist makes him a more influential figure in among the local bureaucracy, his relationship with Gopi is one in which he is still seen as a dalit man. The only difference is that to Gopi Sunil was one of the good dalits. Despite the help that Sunil provided Gopi and the respect Gopi had for Sunil, a cloud of caste throws a shadow on their relationship.

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5.6.3 Sunil’s Fear of Politics

Politics plays a role in daily life, just as caste and class. For Sunil however, politics is something he actively avoids. In my last week in G.K. Godam an issue of misuse of funds comes up. I’m not surprised to hear that someone was claiming money through NREGA that did not belong to them, but I was surprised to hear that the main coordinator of this scheme was Gopi. The owner of the house I was staying in had been implying for days that some groups were being paid more than others. After days of trying to get the whole story out of her, she finally told me that three of the six groups in the village had claimed to be doing work for three weeks when in fact they only did one week of work. Curious as to how that was even possible with so many safeguards in place, I ask her how they were able to do this. She explains that Gopi is a TDP leader in the village. The FA also happens to be a supporter of the TDP. She also explains that rumor is he paid her 9000 Rs. to let him do this. 9000 Rs. is far too high for this to even be feasible for Gopi, however he likely paid the FA some payment he claimed. The members of Gopi’s group and the workers of the two other groups also gave their payments to their mates. It would be expected that each worker also received some portion of these payments.

The next morning Sunil comes from Nathavaram to visit me, and I explain the situation to him. Sunil is also shocked that the mates would be so bold as to claim two weeks’ worth of payments. “They will definitely be caught when the audit happens,” he says assuring the house owner. Sunil is also surprised that the main culprit of this issue is Gopi. He asks the owner by she didn’t bring this issue up to him earlier. This had happened months ago. She explained that she had assumed Sunil and Gopi were good friends. Sunil assures her that they are just friendly but they are not friends. He reminds her that he works for all of them. At the same time Sunil

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seems hurt that Gopi did this. He then tells her again that they will be caught at the next social audit.

Later I ask Sunil why he himself doesn’t expose the issue at the mandal office. It would be easy to compare the information in the data base to the work actually done at the work site. Sunil then gets very serious and explains that because this is a political issue he fears what will happen if he gets involved. “I don’t want to cause problems. I have a family and I don’t want to get in trouble because of their issue. I also have to consider these things. They’ll be caught at the next social audit. When the auditor sees that the work done on the site doesn’t match what the records say they’ll know. If not, I’ll bring it to the auditor’s attention. I can’t take care of this by myself.” I understood his dilemma. Many actors were involved for this situation to have even occurred. The FA, TA, and EC had all had to have approved the work both before and after the work was completed and should have noted that there was a discrepancy between the work claimed and the work done. Sunil’s fears are one that any individual would have, therefore there are certain issue that he too feels he cannot handle on his own and must really on auditors for.

Despite his efforts to provide routes of problem solving in NREGA absent of social constraint to the workers he works on behalf of, Sunil is still victim to such constraints, some even imposed by the workers he works for. This reinforces why understanding the village context is crucial for not only understanding why NREGA implementation difference from the guidelines, and why workers face problems, but also for understanding Sunil’s role and his experiences with navigating his duties as an activist and dalit man. Social factors of caste and politics affect relationships of patronage and brokerage, and the relationship between Sunil, workers, and local bureaucracy.

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